2 WIPs & August Billing cycle paused

Mantis WIPNo idea what to name the random creature, so I use the main inspiration.
塗鴉-螳螂君(名字隨意取的)

Sorry for no updates for a while! In the first half of July, I was cluelessly practicing without yielding any work worth posting. Last week I was almost near the point to give up on learning rendering/painting, because Photoshop had been giving me a very hard time to control its brushes.
呃哇這個月的更新率極度不理想，但無論如何還是要上來繳個作業。前半月我基本上還是畫不出任何能看的作品，直到上週真心覺得「欸差不多該放棄了」，因為PS的筆刷我好像無論如何就是沒法適應，甚至連打個草稿都有問題。

Then I randomly decided to give another drawing program a try, which is PaintTool SAI (version 2.0). I actually had used the old version of SAI for years, knowing it's good for quick sketching and the brush texture is decent enough for mimicking nature media drawing.
接著抱著死馬當活馬醫的心情，打開許久沒用的SAI(2.0版)塗鴉。是說舊版SAI我也用了許多年，和PS比起來它的筆刷好控制得多，雖然灰度材質筆觸等等表現都沒有PS細膩，但重點是它好控制。不如說隨便一款繪圖軟體都比PS的筆刷好控制。至於為啥不是用Paintstorm，是因為Paintstorm的材質和筆觸交疊的表現還是不太理想。

And then, wow! I do can drawing forms with much more ease than doing so in PS. Though I bumped into a block and wasn't able to push the progress further, due to the limitation of PaintTool SAI, which is somehow not ideal for rendering subtle forms and values.
一來因為抱著塗鴉心情，二來畫的不是人所以要求不高，整個畫圖過程的挫折感少一大半，也可以快速畫出在PS刻一整天可能也刻不出來的造型。但畫到四肢以及毛髮突然就卡住了，可能是SAI在處理較細膩的灰度變化這方面畢竟不夠力。

Then I started another drawing (Dante portrait) and use both SAI and PS. If the values are getting too flat, I switch to PS. If I need to quickly design forms, I switched to SAI. And it turns out not bad. Despite the values/lighting seems murky, it's enough for me to present ideas. I really want to give this method a chance. But uh, it's near the end of July!
於是決定再試畫一張(蛋丁頭像)，這次是SAI和PS交互輪流使用。如果覺得灰度太平，就轉到PS去畫。如果覺得筆刷太難控制，就轉到SAI繼續畫。轉來轉去的有點煩但至少畫出來的效果不差，雖說灰度變得很混濁，但我至少找到辦法完整呈現想呈現的形體，而且過程自由度也夠高。總之個人很想再繼續研究這個畫法一陣子，但是咧七月已經要結束啦，獎勵依舊難產。

So the August billing cycle will be paused again since I don't offer much rewards in July. And I will continue on finish the Dante portrait, or at least push the progress further. If this method won't fail me, I will make more illustrations in August and resume to record more streams!
因為七月獎勵難產，八月將暫停向各位收費。我會在八月繼續畫好這張蛋丁頭像，如果這畫法可行，應該能在八月內再多畫幾張插畫，屆時也會恢復錄製youtube實況。如果不可行的話呃嗯我大概就會調整跑道專心畫漫畫了(汗)抱歉再次讓大家久等QDQ